Sunday, April 14, 2013 5:11 PM Local Time
Greg Merson had chipped Sam Holden down to a few big blinds.
Then Team Europe then scored a double, double up and took the lead. Merson had a dominating lead with about 170,00 but lost it in two hands.
Holden moved all-in for 26,000 and Merson called a timeout.
He went to Ivey and Hellmuth and asked for some advice. Hellmuth said he'd fold so Merson said he'd definitely call then.
Americas:
Europe:
The board brought Europe an ace and they doubled up.
Then they doubled up again.
Players got their chips in the middle and Europe showed to Americas' The board came and Europe doubled up to the lead.
Play continued and both teams got around even in chips. Then they got it all-in again.
There was a raise, an all-in and a call.
Europe showed and the Americas showed
The board came and Team Americas was left with just a bit more than a big blind. They went all-in the following hand and Holden called.
Americas:
Europe:
The board came and Team Europe took the cup.
Behind the Scenes at the Caesars Cup
Today we give you a front-row seat to the Caesars Cup like you've never had before.
Check out the video below for tons of footage from the event plus interviews with Antonio Esfandiari, world Champ Greg Merson and cricket legend Shane Warne.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 4:37 PM Local Time
Team Americas and the Phils take match two with a one two knockout.
First they doubled in an aces vs sixes and took out the Europeans out the following hand. After doubling the Phils up, Rettenmaier and Gruissem were left with 19,000.
They went all-in the next hand and showed Team Americas turned over
The board came and the game was tied.
With one victory under each team's belt, it all comes down to the final heads-up match.
Sam Holden will be playing in the final stint for Team Europe while Greg Merson will represent Team Americas.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 4:09 PM Local Time
Trickett and Nitsche are two for two in the Caesar's Cup.
Europe is also dominating the mixed-person poker format. No other team has scored a victory in this novel form of poker in the Caesar's Cup history.
Now we're headed into match two, which features a shared stack. Manning the Americas stack are both Phils.
Phil Ivey picked himself first and followed up with Phil Hellmuth.
Team Europe opted for Marvin Rettenmaier and Philipp Gruissem to play theirs.
The field also is mostly hatted. Ivey is wearing a Team Ivey hat while Hellmuth has a black, Shadow Creek hat.
Rettenmaier is donning a "U MAD?" hat, we'll see if he manages to anger the poker brat.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 4:01 PM Local Time
With Team Europe dominating the first part of the match and getting ahead around two-to-one, the action would be on Dominik Nitsche on the button and he moved all in. Daniel Negreanu slowly peeled his hand and then made the call for his remaining 51,000.
Team Americas:
Team Europe:
With Team Americas in the lead, the flop would give Europe the lead, and when the landed on the turn the Team Americas would need one of the two remaining sevens in the deck. Unfortunately for the reigning champions, the landed on the river to give Team Europe the win to go ahead 1-0.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:32 PM Local Time
There was a lot of television.
Team Americas lined up in front of the cup and posed. There were dozens of jib swoops and multiple facial expressions. They tried serious, smiling and intimidating a few times. Daniel Negreanu has also joined the team.
Kid Poker showed up during the break and took a Team Americas jacket, doubling the number of countries represented by the team.
Then Ivey posed in front of the cup with the captain of Team Europe. There were several more jib swings.
After the TV flare, poker got underway. Phil Ivey selected Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari for the first round while Sam Trickett picked Sam Trickett and Dominik Nistche.
The first round will go back to the mixed-person format. One player will play preflop and then pass the hand on to his partner for postflop action.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:04 PM Local Time
The Caesar's Cup is great, it appeals to the masses. They put a spin on the game and have some of the biggest names in poker try it out.
It's great television. There's just one simple truth, poker is exciting.
People love poker. They love watching it, learning about it and getting better at it. It's a sport unlike any other. Any person can enter any tournament and take it down, whether it's a local bar tournament or the WSOP Main Event.
This event brings more to the table. There isn't any money at stake this event, there's more. It's about being the best and competing against the best.
It's about what everyone wants to do in poker: win.
Player's aren't representing specific countries, but diverse geographical regions.
Team Americas has both American continents lumped together and consists of Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari and Greg Merson.
Team Europe is Europe, a continent. They speak different languages and share the same currency. Their team is also the youngest of the three and their hairstyles are as diverse as their languages. Team Europe has Sam Holden, Sam Trickett, Dominik Nitsche, Marvin Rettenmaier and Philipp Gruissem.
Team Asia Pacific is the third team. Asia Pacific is a part of the world, a region. To be a member, a country has to have its coastlines fondled by the Western Pacific Ocean. Its integrants are Joe Hachem, Jeff Lisandro, Jackie Glazier, Shane Warne and Andrew Hinrichsen.
The members of each team didn't qualify, they were hand-picked by the Caesar himself. Not only are they some of the best players in the online and live world, they're poker stars.
Team Americas is the reigning champ of this prestigious event.
With Team Europe just having just eliminated Team Asia Pacific, the final round is near.
Ivey, Hellmuth, Merson and Esfandiari were waiting in the back area, all covered in black Team Americas jackets. They watched the final hand together on a television, Esfandiari rooted for the Aussies but the magic didn't come for them.
The TV crew and players are prepping for the final bout. We'll soon find out if Team Americas will keep the Caesar's Cup on their side of the Atlantic Ocean or if Europe will take the cup to theirs.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:04 PM Local Time
And it’s done! Team Europe defeats Team Asia-Pacific and will face Team Americas in the final.
From the button Dominik Nitsche shipped it all in and Jeffrey Lisandro called all-in from the big blind.
Nitsche:
Lisandro:
The flop gave Nitsche both a gutshot straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. The on the turn gave Nitsche and Team Europe further outs with any spade, and when the dealer dropped the dagger of the on the river it would be Europe progressing into the final.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 2:48 PM Local Time
The match has been dominated by Jeffrey Lisandro and Team Asia-Pacific, but Team Europe has just managed to spike a double to get into the lead.
Dominik Nitsche shipped it all in for 58,000 and Lisandro called a time out. Telling his teammates that he had he believed that Nitsche might be shoving fairly light, and after Jackie Glazier and Joe Hachem both agreed, Lisandro made the call.
Lisandro:
Nitsche:
The flop put Nitsche and Team Europe in the lead, and when the and landed on the turn and river, Team Europe bound out to the lead with the double.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 2:34 PM Local Time
With Jackie Glazier's aces, Team Asia Pacific wins Round Two.
With one match under each team's belt, it all comes down to a round of heads-up.
Dominik Nitsche will be represnting Team Europe and Jeff Lisandro will be the heads-up representative for Team Asia Pacific.
Whoever takes this will bring their team to the final.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 2:23 PM Local Time
The second match is over and we are now deadlocked at 1-1.
On a board of Tx-2x-2x-3x-2x we found Jackie Glazier betting each street into Sam Holden. Holden check-called each street before calling a time out when faced with a 25,000-chip river bet.
“They’re scared of the girl!” cheekily snarled Glazier.
“You guys don’t know what I would do” she added.
“I don’t think she’s bluffing because she’s talking” stated one of the Team Europe members.
Eventually Holden folded to give Glazier and Team Asia-Pacific the pot.
Just a few lands later with the match back in Glazier’s hands, she opened to 13,000 and Sam Holden pushed all in for roughly 55,000. Glazier instantly called and the cards were tabled.
Glazier:
Holden:
The board was spread to see Glazier and Team Asia-Pacific win the pot and the second match.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 1:56 PM Local Time
We've entered the second match of the Caesar's Cup.
With one victory under its belt, Team Europe has chosen to go with Sam Holden and Sam Trickett. They'll be deviating from the exciting variation of mixed-person poker we had last match and go for a shared stack instead.
Team Asia Pacific took out the big guns this round and are going with cricket legend Shane Warne. His teammate for this shared-stack match will be Ivey Pro Jackie Glazier.
The tech ninjas in black shirts are also still working out the techinical difficulties out in media row. They're poking the television, throwing wires around and chatting away on walkie-talkies.
There was an other incident with the audio where toilet noises were being heard. Apparently someone forgot to turn off one of the dealer's microphones.
Stay tuned for more Caesar's Cup.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 1:27 PM Local Time
We are experiencing a mountain of technical difficulties at the moment with no live feed available and restricted access to the filmed TV table, however we can report that Team Europe has won the first match.
After losing chips early, they managed a double back to starting stack with against on a board. Several hands later Team Europe would be all in again with against Team Asia-Pacific’s The window card of the followed by a board would leave Asia-Pacific crippled.
The next hand would be the final one with Asia-Pacific and their against Europe’s The flop left Asia-Pacific drawing virtually dead, and when the fell on the turn giving Europe a straight flush, victory would be theirs as the landed on the river.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 1:14 PM Local Time
The TV crew has cut the live feed and restricted access to the stage for us media members … and what a shame after a very interesting first hand.
Bets were exchanged on the board with Joe Hachem of Team Asia-Pacific betting out. The Europeans decided to take their time out so that the bench warmers of Sam Trickett, Sam Holden and Dominik Nitsche could discuss the hand with Marvin Rettenmaier and Philip Gruissem.
“I don’t even know the action” stated Trickett as they decided upon an action.
After the five team Europe members discussed their hand for a few minutes, the eventually folded and team Asia-Pacific won the pot.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 1:05 PM Local Time
After a traditional Australian welcome ceremony and introductions by WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel, the first match of the Caesars Cup is under way.
Joe Hachem selected himself and Richard Yong for Australia while Sam Trickett selected Marvin Rettenmaier and Philip Gruissem for team Europe – maybe an obvious ploy to use them early since they both have to play in the AU$50,000 High Rollers later today.
This match will be the 'Alternate' format where one player will play one street before switching over to the other player to play the alternate street.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 12:34 PM Local Time
The start of play has been delayed by at least 30 minutes so far as technical difficulties are sorted out by the two TV crews filming the Caesars Cup. In the meantime, here is a rundown of the Caesars Cup format.
The WSOP Asia Pacific Caesars Cup is a unique format of poker that sees three matches decide the winner.
The first match sees two players from each team play the same stack but alternate who plays each street by passing the hand back and forth without talking.
The second match sees two players play two separate heads up matches from the same shared stack. One player will play two hands against their heads-up opponent before switching with the second player so that he can play his allotted two hands.
The final and deciding match (if needed) will be a straight heads-up match between Asia-Pacific and Europe with the winner facing off against the Americas to battle it out for the Caesars Cup Champion.
Each team is also allowed one time out per match which can last up to 60 seconds.
Sunday, April 14, 2013 11:43 AM Local Time
Welcome to the 2013 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific for the Caesars Cup Invitational featuring a battle between Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas.
The host region of Asia-Pacific is headed by team captain Joe Hachem, and he has selected Jeffrey Lisandro, Andrew Hinrichsen, Jackie Glazier, Richard Yong and Shane Warne as his teammates. Phil Ivey captains the Americas and has selected reigning World Champion Greg Merson, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu as his teammates.
Sam Trickett captains the European team and although only having announced Marvin Rettenmaier up until yesterday, it appears as though Sam Holden, Dominik Nitsche and Philip Gruissim are now part of Team Europe.
Play is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. local time with the PokerListings Live Reporting Team providing updates throughout the tournament.